Plume-drying apparatus.



H. METHOT.

PLUMB DRYING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 29, 1913.

1,1 10,452, Patented Sept. 15, 1914.

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Patented Sept. 15,1914.

2 SHBETS-BHEET 2.

H. METHOT.

PLUME DRYING APPARATUS. APPLIGATION FILED SEPT. 29. 1913.

INI/NTOR //0///R Mae 0r ATTORNEYS- WITNESSES HOMER Mnrrror, or nnn BANK, NEW J RSEY. I

PLUME DRYING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent. 7

Application filed September 29, 1913. Serial No, 792,318. j

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HOMER Mn rno'r, acitizen of the United States, and a resident of Red Bank, in the county of Monmouth and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Plume-Drying Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to a machine for drying feathers, ostrich plumes and the like after having been dyed or cleaned.

The invention has for its general objects to improve and simplify the construction of drying machines of the character referred to so as to be reliable and efiicient in use, comparatively inexpensive to manufacture and operate, and so designed as to have a large drying capacity.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a drying machine in which the drying of the plumes is accomplished by the combined action of a blast of heated air directed on the feathers, and of a beater which mechanically agitates' the feather to dislodge the particles of moisture and starch therefrom.

Another object of the invention is the novel combination of a reciprocating feather-holding carriage which is adjustable as to the length and point of beginning or ending of its strokes and moves back and forth toward or from a beater and over an apron disposed under the feathers held in the carriage, so that the feathers are effectively beaten, while at the same time an air blast device discharges a blast of'air under and through the feathers to thoroughly and quickly dry the same. Instead of feeding the feathers automatically, as by the carriage, they may be fed by hand, in which case the carriage is removed and the feathers are mounted in a holder and this, while being held by the operator, is moved back and'forth by him so as to subject the feathers to the action of the beater.

With such objects in view, and others as will appear as the description proceeds, the invention comprises various novel features of construction and arrangement .of parts whichwill be set forth with particularity in i the; following description and claims appended hereto.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate one embodiment of the. invention and wherein similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views, Figure 1 1s a side view of the machine; Fig. 2 is an enlarged View of one of the feather-holding clips or clamps; Fig. 3 IS an enlarged sectional view on the-line 33 of the gripping jaws of the clamp; Fig. 4c

is a front view of the machine; Fig. 5 is a plan view of one end of thecarriage, and Fig. 6 is a sectional View showing the combined action of the beater and blasting 'of air on the feathers.

Referring to the drawing, A designates the machine frame, which may be of any suitable structure, and arranged thereon are parallel rails horizontally disposed to'form a track on whichtravels back and forth a feather-holding carriage 13, whereby the feathers are moved toward and from a rotary beater O. The frame A has at its rear portion an upward extension A onwhich] this beater C is mounted, such beater con ;s1 st1ng of a rotary body 2l1avi'ng radially disposed strips of leather 3 or other flexible elements which in'rotating at high speed. slap thefeathersand thereby dislodge the moisture and dry the fibers by evaporation. Disposed under the pathfof the carriage]? is a canvas apron D against which the fe'ath} ers are beaten by the leather strips 3 of the beater. This canvas apron is secured atvit's rear end 4 to. a suitable part of the frame and passes forwardly therefrom to andbe tween bars 5 and th'ence continues to the. front of the machine where it passes" downwardly over a bar 6, the loweredgeo-f the apron being connected with, helical springs 7 that are suitably'eonnected at their lower ends to the frame A. These springs maintain the horizontal portion (Z of the apron yieldingly taut. f

The carriage B comprises two parallel rods 8 and 9 which connect together the side members 100f the carriage, such side mem bers being provided with groovedtracti'on wheels 11- which ride upon the railsl. The bar 8 serves as a means for attaching to the Patented s pt. 15,1914.

carriage the feather clamps E, whichclamps are constructed as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The clamps comprlse two members 12-and 13 'which are hingedly' connected at 14 "and-are formed with aws 15 and 1 6,;b'etween which the quill end of a feather is g'rippedj "The opposite ends of the members 12 and 13 ai'e formed into grips -17 and 18- which have in .terpos'ed between them a spring 19 that serves to hold thejaws 15 and 16 together. The member 18 has a spring 20 fastened thereto in such a manner that the free end 21 thereof cooperates with a seat 22 to form a. clip whereby the feather clamp can be gripped on the front cross bar 8 of the carriage B. The rear cross bar 9 of the carriage is so spaced with respect to the front cross bar 8 that the jaw end of the clamp E will rest on the bar 9, as clearly shown in Fig. The jaws 15 and 16 are so shaped in cross-section that the quill will be firmly held in the clamp without danger of shift-- ing laterally. In other words, one of the jaws, namely the jaw 15, has its gripping surface 23 formed with a V-shaped groove, while the other jaw is approximately flat on the gripping face. By this means a three-point contact is obtained between the quill of the feather and the jaws of the clamp, and as the groove 23 extends longi tudinally of the aw the quill is held firmly against lateral shifting.

The carriage B with the feathers supported thereby is moved back and forth by pitmen 24 that are connected with extensions 25 of the cross bar 9 of the carriage. One pitman 24 is connected with a drive wheel 26 on a shaft 27 journaled in the rear portion of the machine frame. The other pitman is connected with a crank 28' fastened to the shaft 27, so that with each rotation of the shaft the carriage travels back and forth. The beater G and carriage-operating means are driven in any suitable manner, as, for instance, by a motor 29 mounted on the upright extension A of the frame, such motor being connected by a belted pulley transmission 30 with a countershaft 81 at the top of the machine frame, and from this shaft is a belt and pulley transmission 32 of the cross type, which rotates the beater G. On the beater shaft 33 is a pulley 34 which, by means of a belt 35, drives a large pulley 36 on a shaft37 mounted in the base portion of the machine, and on this shaft is a pulley 38 which drives a belt 39 that engages the wheel 26 on the shaft 27. These various belt and pulley transmissions are so designed as to rotate the beater at a speed lower than the motor and to rotate the carriage driving shaft at a speed lower than the beater. In other words, the carriage moves back and forth once while the beater revolves many times.

Simultaneously with the beating of the feathers a blast of hot air is directed against the latter so as to greatly accelerate the drying operation. For this purpose a nozzle F is mounted at the front of the machine at a point between the carriage B and the apron D, the nozzle being so designed as to discharge a blast in the form of a sheet equal in width to the length of the carriage so that all the feathers mounted in the car riage will be acted on by the blast. The

blasting is directed under the feathers and through the same toward the rear of the machine, while the beater acts on the upper side of the feathers. This nozzle is connected with a duct 1 which leads from a fan contained within a casing 10, the fan being driven by an electric or other motor l1. The casing 4C0 has a central intake opening L2, Fig. l, and at this opening is a gas burner e3 of the multiple jet type, whereby the air in being drawn into the casing is highly heated. Adjacent the burner 4:3 is a pilot burner t4: whereby the flame of the main burner can be ignited when the main gas supply is turned on.

It may be desirable in some instances to feed the feathers by hand and consequently the carriage B, which sits loosely on the tracks 1. ma y be removed. The feathers to be dried can be placed in a suitable holder or held in the hands of the operator while he moves the feathers back and forth under the beater so as to subject the feathers to the action thereof. To enable the carriage to be removed the pitmen 24 are detachable, and for this purpose the upper end of each pitman has a slot- L5 in its bottom edge so as to releasably fit on the outer extremity or extensions 25 of the rod 9 of the carriage, as shown in Figs. 1. t and The lower rear ends of the pitmen are provided with slots 46 for detachable engagement with the crank pins 457 of the wheel 26 and crank 28. The crank pins e7 are adjustable toward or from the centers of the shaft 27 so as to vary the length of stroke of the carriage. In the position shown in Fig. 1. the carriage has its maximum length of stroke, and by adjusting the crank pins toward the axis of rotation the stroke of the carriage is shortened. It may be desirable to adjust the position of the carriage with respect to the beater, thereby varying the point of beginning and ending of the strokes. For this purpose the pitmen may be made in two sections adjustably connected by bolts L8. By lengthening the pitmen the carriage will be thrown farther away from the beater so as to be suitable to operate long feathers, and by shortening the pitmen the carriage will be adjusted toward the beater. t will be noted that the rear portion of the apron or canvas D that is effective in cooperating with the beater lies immediately in front of the cross-bar 5, and at this bar the canvas abruptly dips. By reason of this the leather straps of the beater will not have a dragging action on the feathers, but instead the said straps have a powerful whipping action on the feathers to dislodge the moisture and starch.

In operation the clamps are supplied with the feathers to be dried and the clamps fastened to the crossbar's of the carriage, the

feathers being arranged in parallel relation with their tip portions directed toward the beater, T he machine is now started and the carriage conducts the feathers rearwardly toward the beater, which in rotating violently agitates the feathers to dislodge the moisture and simultaneously the hot blast of air will pass through quickly dry the same.

Havingthus described my invention, I claim as new and desireto secure by Letters Patent:

1. A feather drying machine comprising a heater, a feather-holding carriage movable toward and from the heater, and means for directing a heated blast of air against the feathers simultaneously with the beating thereof.

2. A feather drying machine comprising a heater, a feathenholding carriage movable toward and from the beater whereby the latter acts on one side of the feather, and means for directing heated air through the feathers from the opposite side.

3. A feather drying machine comprising an apron, a feather-holding carriage movable over the apron, a heater, for beating the feathers while supported by the apron, and means for directing a blast of air between the apron and feathers and through the lat. ter.

at. A feather drying machine comprising a rotary beater, a flexible apron disposed adjacent the beater, and a feather-holding carriage movable toward and from the beater to feed the feathers between the latter and apron.

5. A feather drying machine Comprising a beater for acting on a plurality of feathers, a carriage for holding a plurality of feathers, means for moving the carriage toward and from the beater, and a device for directing a blast of air against all the the feathers and feathers in the carriage during the beating of the feathers.

6. A feather drying machine comprising a heater, a carriage movable toward and from the heater and consisting of spaced bars, and

beater, a carriage movable toward and from the heater and consisting of spaced bars, and feather-holding clamps having means for detachably interlocking with one of the bars 1 and adapted to rest on the other bar.

8. A feather drying machine comprising a beater and feather-holding means, said means consisting of a pair of jaws, one of which is substantially flat on its gripping face and the other longitudinally grooved to grip the quill of a feather.

9. A feather drying machine comprising a rotary beater having flexible beating elements, and a flexible apron having an abrupt dip directly under the beater, whereby the blades of the beater have a whipping action on the feathers without exerting adrag on the latter.

10. A feather dryii'lg machine comprising a rotary beater, and a reciprocatory featherholding carriage movable toward and from the beater, and a track on which the carriage is removahly mounted.

11. A feather drying machine comprising a rotary heater, and a reciprocatory featherholding carriage movable toward and from the beater, a track on which the carriage moves, and adjustable driving means for the carriage, whereby the lengths of stroke and the point of beginning or stopping of the carriage may be varied.

12. A feather drying machine comprising a feather beating device, and means for directing a blast ofheated air into the feathers held before and acted on by the beatin g means, whereby the feathers are dried by the simultaneous action of the heating device and the heated air.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HOMER METHOT.

Witnesses GHATTIA BRADWAY,

PHILIP D. RoLLHAUs.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing: the Commissioner of latnnts,

Washington, D. 6. 

